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If Prompto had thought about it (he hadn’t) he’d have guessed the lilies in the ornamental pond were fake. But what do you know? They were real. There was a second of pure calm when his back hit the ice for some reason. Less than, maybe. The thin layer of ice gave way under him immediately and he sank into water so cold it almost felt burning.
He was only under for a few seconds, and then he broke the surface gasping and coughing. Noctis met him on the edge and offered him a hand. His whole body was instantly wracked with shivers. He gagged on a breath.
“Holy shit, are you serious?” Noctis said.
“Fuck,” was all Prompto could get out. He glanced up at where the bridge had given way when he backed into it.
“Dude let’s go. You gotta get inside.”
“Oh, so we’re tabling all this?” Prompto said. It didn’t come out indignant like he wanted. His voice sounded like it was caving in.
“Uh. Yes.”
Noctis had to half drag him, but his house was only a block away. He shed the soaking coat and couldn’t decide if he got colder or not. He was numb or he was burning, all he could tell was he hurt. His hair was freezing stiff, and he could feel snot halted in its tracks on his face. He couldn’t work his keys at the door. He couldn’t even get them out of his pocket, Noctis had to dig them out. As soon as they stepped inside Prompto stumbled over to the couch and peeled his shirt off with barely functioning fingers.
He heard Noctis shut the door.
“Dude.”
Rather than respond to whatever that exclamation was about, Prompto shucked off soaking wet pants and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch.
“I’ll grab you some clothes,” Noct said.
“Uh, thanks.” He didn’t actually want Noctis to do that and he didn’t really want Noctis to be present in his house but he was confident he couldn’t physically get up the stairs so… he waited and listened to his own teeth chattering and Noctis rummaging around his room.
His cheeks were pins-and-needles. They had been before he took a short drop into a small body of water though. Noctis came back down with clothes. The one clean t-shirt from his top drawer, a beat-up grey hoodie, his usual sweatpants. He didn’t offer them up though. Instead he stood by the arm of the couch holding the bundle like it was a bomb about to go off.
“I’m sorry.”
“Give me the clothes.”
“Okay.” Noctis passed him the clothes. Prompto got the t-shirt on okay, but his whole body was burning, and he was shaking so hard he could barely even lift the pants. Noctis watched him struggle for a minute before just stepping in. “I’m seriously sorry dude.”
“No, it’s--I shouldn’t be mad. It’s like the nature of your being.”
“No it isn’t. That’s a shitty thing to say.” Noctis yanked the pants up to Prompto’s hips and then grabbed the sweater to manhandle him into it.
“I mean of you being a prince.”
“And that I’m inherently-self-centered.”
“Maybe that comes with the prince territory.”
“I fucked up. You can be mad at me.” Noctis zipped the hoodie up. Prompto felt like his organs were collapsing. He thought he’d feel better in dry clothes. He’d been holding on to the notion of dry clothes, the whole walk over, soaked and starting to freeze solid. He just felt like absolute shit. He felt like he got hit by a truck and the truck stopped to back over him.
“I know you’re mad at me--” Noct started.
“I’m not.”
“But um. The heat isn’t on in your house?” Noct was still in his coat. He had his arms wrapped around him.
“Oh yeah, well. My parents turn it off when they’re not home.” He pressed his hands against the blanket in a useless attempt to get them to stop shaking.
“But you’re home.” Noctis was looking at Prompto like he was crazy. Prompto blinked hard. His vision was sort of desaturated. The corners of everything was browning out. The next thing Noctis said sounded like he was underwater again.
“I fell in the pond, that was crazy,” Prompto said. Noctis had his phone out. Oh, Noctis was actually on the phone. He shut up and fisted a hand in the blanket. That hand was shaking. His teeth hurt. He listened distantly to one side of the conversation.
“The it’s in the--I forgot the name of the park. Viridi park or whatever. It’s right by Prom’s house.”
“Yeah there’s a pond. It’s ornamental.”
“I don’t know.”
“He’s like shaking.” On that last one he glanced over at Prompto again. He wanted to say something but words were slow getting from his brain to his mouth. The room was more hollow than usual. He felt more hollow than usual. The sun that pierced through the drawn curtains was too bright, too white, too cold .
“Seriously?” Noct said. He pressed down hard on the first syllable, which told Prompto he had to be on the phone with Ignis. “Okay, fine. Okay, but tell him to hurry.” Noct shoved his phone back into his pocket and sat down beside Prompto.
“Sorry,” Prompto said automatically. Noctis looked at him dubiously.
“What are you sorry for?”
“I dunno. For fighting. Or falling into the pond I guess.”
“Yeah well. I’m really sorry.” There was some finality, some firmness with which Noct said that that clogged the words in Prompto’s throat. He forgot how to speak.
He shut his eyes for a minute and when he opened them Noct was getting off the couch. A moment later someone else was in the room. He cracked open one eye to see Gladio too close to him, reach out and tip Prompto’s chin up.
“He seriously fell in a pond?”
“Yeah, we were--we were talking and he backed into the railing.” Noctis averted his eyes when Prompto looked to him.
“M’fine,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, the heat isn’t on in your home. Is it always like this?” Gladio addressed him in such a businesslike manner.
“Uh, yeah. For the last month. But it only got cold last week.”
“Wow. Fuck,” Gladio said. He exchanged a look with Noct where they seemed to have a silent conversation. “Okay, can you walk on your own?” Gladio said. That was more obviously addressed to Prompto.
“Y-yeah. Of course,” he said. He made no move to stand though. Everything hurt. Everything felt like static, like he was drowning between broadcast frequencies. Gladio huffed a sigh.
“Do you want to stand?”
“Why do I need to?”
“Because we’re getting you somewhere warm before you die,” Gladio said brusquely. Noctis made a choking noise.
“Oh.”
“I’m gonna pick you up--carefully--and you tell me if this hurts, okay?” Gladio said. Prompto made a sound of acknowledgement. It did hurt. Kind of a lot, but he didn’t say anything. The bottom of the world was kind of dropping out. But more than that, he just couldn’t deal with the notion of Gladio letting him go or putting him down. It felt shameful and horrible even to think it but he was… he wanted to be touched, to be held, and it felt so good that he couldn’t bring himself to care about how it burned his skin.
Gladio bundled him into the back of an unfamiliar car. It belonged to the Amicitia’s, Prompto supposed. Ignis must have been busy. Noct slid into the back beside him, but refused to look his way. They rode in silence. Every time they stopped at a light, Gladio would glance into the back. The pain didn’t lessen, he just started to get used to it.
He didn’t hiss when Gladio picked him up again. It was easy to stay silent.
Gladio and Noctis had an argument about something in the kitchen that he missed. It felt almost too warm in Noct’s apartment. He was burning for a while, shivering under the blanket and feeling vaguely sick.
“Why’d you apologize to me back at my place?” Prompto asked, when Noctis sat down on the back of the couch. Noctis didn’t say anything. He propped his chin in his hands. “Noct?”
“For being a shitty friend. For making you feel like you had to apologize to me.”
“I--you didn’t--”
“Prom you can’t just… live in a house with no heat. That’s not okay. What would you say if I said Specs did that to me?”
“Pfft, he never would. And besides, he couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re the prince, and…” it sort of caught up to him. Not all at once and not out of nowhere. He felt suddenly like he was incredibly stupid. He felt like Noctis was asking him 1 + 1 and he was just realizing 3 was the wrong answer. His will gave out like concrete against frost heave, and he gripped the blanket in his lap and scrunched up his face to hold back tears.
Noct slid down so he was sitting beside him, with his legs pulled up to his chest.
He always sort of knew he was unwanted. Part of him always felt a kind of kinship with dying Duscaen bettas in pet store windows.
“I was waiting for you and I figured you just… decided not to come.”
“Dude.”
“Just--like, it makes sense in context.”
“Yeah because your parents--” Noct cut himself off. Gladio was in the next room on the phone with someone. Prompto felt his eyes burning before he realized he was crying. Noctis reached out to carefully wipe the tears away. His fingers burned. He was like a tiny sun. Noctis shook his head.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that, Prom. Don’t ever let anyone tell you you deserve that.”
Easier said than done, Prompto wanted to say. He didn’t say that. He didn’t say anything. He leaned into Noct’s touch, and Noctis didn’t pull away, he wasn’t repelled, he sank his burning fingers into Prompto’s hair, pressed their foreheads together and enveloped him in fire.